Dinner with the Drake Clan
by bookwormwithanattitude
Summary: The story of how Tim first took Steph to meet his dad and Stepmom, but with those two, trouble always follows. Some fluff, some action, lots of snark.


"I always figured you for a speed demon," Tim said dryly.

"Nag, nag, nag," Steph teased him. In all honesty, she was driving her beat up old Honda a little fast because she was nervous. She'd pulled out all the stops to look good for Tim's parents. Done her hair up all nice. Put on the nicest dress she owned, and freakin' heels. Even put some lip gloss on. But it wasn't enough. Tim's parents were _rich. _Well, they had been rich. They were currently in the process of moving on down to upper middle class because Tim's dad, Jack, had blown all their money in an investment. He'd had all that _money _and he'd _gambled _it on some crappy investment? It seemed unbelievable to Steph, who could remember not having enough food in the fridge for a decent meal, or her electricity being shut off because they couldn't pay. She didn't want to _dislike _her boyfriend's dad, but she sort of did already.

"You'll be fine," Tim said soothingly, recognizing her nerves.

"Yeah? You seriously think your parents will think a dirt poor gal who has a notorious hood for a father and got herself pregnant once will be good enough for their son?"

"They'll think a witty, extraordinarily brave, and not to mention pretty girl who never gave up no matter how hard times got is, yeah," Tim said, giving her a crooked smile.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Boy Wonder," she told him, not quite able to hid her blush. She stopped for a red light and turned to him. "I'm still nervous they won't like me though."

"Don't worry about it. They're pretty cool and easygoing. Well, Dana is. But my Dad will like you too, honest. Just be yourself."

"Easy for you to say," she sniffed.

"Hey, if anything, I had a much harder time with _your _Mom. I can't believe she recognized me from before," Tim sulked as the light turned green. He gave a start when Steph floored it. "Not so fast!"

"You try working the gas in high heels! Anyway, of course she recognized you, my Mom's not an idiot, Elwin."

"_Al_vin," Tim snapped.

"Whatever. Don't worry, she might not like your, uh, vocation, but she likes your personality. She told me it was about time I went out with a boy who was a gentleman," Steph smirked. "From fighting thugs to a fancy restaurant, though," she said, changing the subject back to their current predicament. "Going to take some getting used to, being in both your lives."

"I'm glad it's this way though. It was a strain on both of us, me keeping Tim Drake a secret from you," he said, looking out the window.

"Talking like you have a split personality again," Steph chided him. They were on the open road now, no one around, except for one car behind them. Tim's parents had picked a restaurant far away from the gangbangers Tim and Steph had been banging up. Steph used the opportunity to speed up even more. Tim didn't react though. He was narrowing his eyes at the rear view mirror.

"Those guys have a pretty cruddy car," Tim muttered. "And they look like they're following us."

"Ah, the good old Robin paranoia," Stephanie said, but she took a look at her own mirror. The guys did look pretty shifty. Suddenly, they sped up apparently about to ram her car. Tim called out, but Steph had already swerved out of the way. They sped past her, but then spun around in an arc, blocking her way. The road was narrow, Steph had to to pull over to the side to try to get by them, but they were already next to her, the two guys trundling out of the car.

"We want your car," the first guy, who had a green ball cap pulled haphazardly over his head, and wide scared, brown eyes. "A-and your money!" He had a gun out. The other guy, who was blond, also had one, but he was distracted, looking at the back of their crappy car. What'd he keep in there? Loot? Bodies? Green Ball Cap was standing pretty close to the car.

"Don't do anything-" Tim began to whisper to Steph, but before he could finish Steph had pushed open the car door with all her might, smashing it into Green Ball Cap's stomach and knocking the wind out of him. She then quickly kicked his gun out his hand before he could orient himself, using the car as a post for her maneuver. The high heel on her left foot flew off when she did this, but it had the good effect of hitting the other guy on the leg, which distracted him enough for Steph to grab his gun arm and twist it. A shot went off as Tim jumped out of the car, but the gun was twisted away from them thanks to Steph's arm bar, and the blond was forced to drop his piece as he yowled in pain. Steph grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into her car, twice. She then dropped the unconscious man in the frosty grass. Tim had the other one pinned down with his foot where Steph had left him, and the Boy Wonder sighed as Steph took her fallen shoe and slipped it back on.

"You should have waited for me," he reprimanded her as they tied the two fellows to a tree and called nine one one on the crooks stolen cell phones.

"You're just upset you didn't get a shot in," Steph laughed. They checked the back of the car. Lots of stolen items. They waited until they could hear the sirens in the distance and then motored.

"You've got blood on your dress, by the way," Tim pointed out as they drove.

"Damn it!" Steph cried, looking down at the flecks of thug-blood on her purple frock.

"Here," Tim got some wipes out of his pocket. "These are specially made, they remove just about anything."

"My hero," Steph said. They stopped at another light and she swiped at the flecks with his stuff. He was right, it came right out. "You're a regular boy scout."

"Seriously, Steph, I worry about you. You've gotten better about it, but you still jump into things. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You're sweet. But let's face it, Robin. We're vigilantes who get shot at every night. Something's GOING to happen to us no matter how careful we are. Might as well have some fun while we're at it," Steph grinned at him.

"That's pessimistic."

"Not really. Besides, sometimes hesitating can get you in as much trouble as rushing into things," Steph took a turn. They were almost at the restaurant. Her nerves were getting worse. Tim's parents wouldn't like her, she knew it. How could they? She'd never been good enough for Tim, she'd admitted herself on their first date. How could his parents see any different?

"Not hesitating. _Planning. Assessing," _Tim stressed.

"Okay, Robin, I get it, I'll be more careful!" She cried, rolling her eyes. "Oops, sorry, I keep calling you Robin. It takes some getting used to, calling you by your real name."

"Don't call me Robin in front of Dad and Dana," Tim said urgently as they pulled into the restaurant's parking lot.

"I'm not an idiot, _Tim, _even if you seem to think so," Steph said, an edge to her voice. She sifted through her skinny purse for a breath mint or something.

"I don't think you're an idiot! I never did!" Tim said, outraged.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just so edgy," she said, illustrating the point by flinging open the car door, having been too busy looking at her purse to see that Tim had come around to open it for her. He just barely dodged the swinging thing.

"Sorry!" she said again, then added dryly. "Don't get all chivalrous on me now. I'm used to opening my own doors."

"Touchy," Tim said. "Really, Steph, stop freaking out. You're great. Dad and Dana will see that."

He offered his arm and she took it, stumbling on her heels.

"Man. You had to be kidding when you told me Barbara wore these crimefighting," she said as they went up the parking lot.

"She switched to flats pretty quick, as D-Nightwing recalls," Tim said.

"Ah! I now know Nightwing's name starts with a D! That narrows down the possibilities considerably!" Steph said sarcastically as they approached the door.

"_Steph. _No more vigilante talk," Tim whispered as they opened the door.

Stephanie's stomach turned over as she entered the restaurant. It was by far the fanciest place she'd ever been. Except that night she busted that Grand Ball hostage situation, but she didn't count Spoiler stuff. A snooty waiter led them to the table.

"I thought you were low on money," Steph whispered.

"Dad said this would be our last splurge," Tim whispered back. "Besides, it's not really that expensive."

"It is to ME. I don't want them spending on me."

"Steph," he kissed her on the cheek. "Don't stress."

It was the last thing he could say to her before they arrived at the table. Tim's family was already there. Both Jack and Dana stood up. Mr. Drake was a distinguished looking man with graying hair. He had Tim's eyes.

"You must be Stephanie. Jack Drake," the man held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Drake," Stephanie shook it, maybe squeezing a little hard in her nerves, because Jack grimaced and said. "That's some grip you've got there, young lady."

"Sorry," Steph said.

"You look very nice, Stephanie. I'm glad to finally meet you, Tim's said wonderful things. I'm Dana," the woman radiated friendliness as Stephanie shook her hand. She was one of those people who seemed totally at ease with themselves. Stephanie liked her, but there was something naggingly familiar about her.

Holy- that was the woman who'd been possessed by that Ravenna chick who sicced the crazy animals on them! The one Steph had to team with Black Canary, Wildcat and Robin to stop. Steph had punched her out in order to save the day, given her a black eye!

She looked wildly at Tim, who seemed to be remembering the same thing with mortification upon seeing Steph's expression. He'd apparently forgotten his girlfriend had met his stepmother before, in less than ideal circumstances.

Did Dana remember her? She certainly didn't seem too, as she sat down and smiled at Stephanie. Her possession must have been a blur to her. Steph pulled herself together and sat down too. At least this explained why Tim had had the woman in his car. Wow. Not every girl got to say they'd knocked their boyfriend's stepmom unconscious. Man, the woman was young. Way younger than Jack Drake. Her boyfriend's dad was dirty old man, practically.

"So, how did you two meet?" Dana asked as the foursome pored over the menus.

She and Tim has rehearsed this. Tim wanted to be as truthful as possible. He hated lying to his dad as much as he did.

"We met a long time ago, outside my house. He ambushed me on my moped a bit, in his eagerness to say hi," Steph smiled. "He was in the area."

"Tim! That's no way to talk to a girl!" Dana scolded.

Oh, if she only knew.

"But we didn't get together then. We were sort of friends, running into each other sometimes when we went out at night. But recently, things picked up. We met at Bristol Commons a lot when he was at Brentwood," Steph explained.

"It's been really interesting, knowing Steph," Tim added.

"What are you into, Stephanie?" Tim's dad asked.

"Oh, I work out a lot," Stephanie said. "I really like athletics. I used to be on the softball team and gymnastics team, and I still, uh, practice those things a lot. I also like to sew. And I'm into writing. I like to write in my diary a lot."

"Exciting reading, I bet," said Jack.

"Oh yes," Stephanie nodded.

"I'm a physical therapist, you know," Dana said. "I helped Jack get back to his old self after he got badly injured. It's how we met. We should work out together sometime. You look like you're in great shape."

"Thanks," Steph said. "Sounds cool."

The waiter took up orders for their drinks. Steph asked for an iced tea, and Tim got the same.

"What attracted you to my boy?" Jack asked her after the waiter left.

"Dad..." Tim said.

"It's okay, Tim. I don't know, Mr. Drake, what's not to like? He's incredibly sweet, intelligent and he's a real stand up guy all around. Also he's cute. My only complaint is he's kind of a bossy little know it all." Steph shoved her boyfriend affectionately.

Dana laughed. "She's got you there, Tim. He's so mysterious too! You always have to work out what's going on in his head!"

"I KNOW. We had some big problems with that at the beginning," Steph laughed. "We've mostly worked it out now."

"And he's a jumpy boy," Jack added.

"Super paranoid, that's our Tim," Steph agreed.

"Hey, when did this turn into "Bash on Tim" hour?!" Tim snapped. Dana and Jack laughed.

The waiter came and handed their drinks, and asked what they wanted to order in way of a meal.

"Just a salad," Steph said awkwardly.

"Stephanie, you have to eat something," Tim said.

"But I can't pay for any of this..." Steph muttered

"We insist, it's our treat," Jack said.

"But...no, I can't let you..." All the prices were more money than Steph was likely to see inside a month.

"Get her some lobster," Tim told the waiter.

"Tim!"

"I know you like lobster," Tim shrugged as the waiter left. "We'll split it."

"We may have lost some money, but we know to treat a friend with something better than salad," Dana said.

"Though this is the last time we'll be able to do something big like this," Tim's dad said mournfully.

"Don't sulk, Jack," Dana reprimanded.

"Living on a low budget's not that bad, Mr. Drake," Stephanie couldn't help saying.

"Excuse me for being insensitive, Stephanie," Jack apologized. "Your mother's a nurse, right?"

"Yeah, but we're in a lot of debt. My dad wasn't the greatest guy, especially as far as money was concerned, and Mom had her own problems," Stephanie looked down so they couldn't see her blush. Tim squeezed her hand. "But we're getting back on our feet now."

"Well, I think it's good for Tim to associate with someone as resilient and hardworking as you, Steph," Dana said. "Agreed, Mr. Drake?"

"Mmmm hmm," Jack said. "Someone with their feet on the ground."

"Um..." Steph rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Sure. Feet on the ground, that's me."

Suddenly, there was a bang outside. And then another. Gunshots. And shouting

At first the entire crowded restaurant went quiet, then there was a freakin' stampede as every stuck up rich person in the place rushed to the windows to get a closer look. Seriously, what was it with people rushing to the WINDOWS when gunshots went off?

Dana and Jack seemed to have the sense to stay at the table, which made things hard, but Tim quickly took up the mantle of "reckless teenager" by grabbing Steph's hand and dragging her into the crowd, yelling "Let's see what's going on!"

Dana and Jack were yelling at them and trying to get up but they were soon lost in the crowd.

"Trouble just seems to follow us around, doesn't it?" Steph said as they jostled their way to the door.

"Yeah, lucky us," said Tim as they peered out the glass door. A couple of guys were having an old fashioned Western standoff. Looked to be well to do, too. Proved even guys on their ways to fancy restaurants can get crazy and pull guns on each other. Wonderful use of the Second Amendment.

"What do we do? We don't have our costumes with us," Steph whispered urgently.

"Don't need costumes," said Tim, pulling some Batarangs out of his suit pocket surreptitiously. "I'm always prepared, remember?"

"S'what I love about ya. Give me one of those!" She grabbed one.

"Make sure nobody's watching us," Tim whispered. "First me, then you," He cracked the door open. Steph took a look around. Nobody's eyes were even remotely on them. "Go," she whispered.

Tim opened the door a little bit more and threw the batarang perfectly, so quick you couldn't even see, knocking the gun out of Moron 1's hand. Steph followed suit and had a similar result with Moron 2. Both of them looked around wildly, looked at their guns, which had landed someways away, looked at each other, then ran for it. One of them pealed up down the sidewalk, right by the restaurant. Steph stuck out her foot to trip him, and he fell like lumber.

"Oops, silly me," she said innocently as a couple of customers came to help subdue him. Tim slipped away, unseen in all the chaos, and came back dragging the other one, and no one noticed this until Tim has already left the dazed man a few feet away and slipped back beside Steph.

They managed to get back in the restaurant before Dana and Jack accosted them.

"Tim! I can't believe you, recklessly running off like that, dragging Stephanie along!" Jack scolded.

"Sorry, we wanted to see what was going on. We stayed in the back of the crowd," Tim said humbly.

"Maybe we should go," Dana said worriedly, looking at the hubbub. "It seems dangerous here.

"It was just two yuppies having a shoot out," Steph assured her. "The cops have it. Can we please stay?I'm really hungry."

Tim's family eventually acquiesced, and though quite a few people left the restaurant, service returned to normal soon after the cops carted the wannabe gunmen away.

Soon the lobster came. Steph was so hungry she was afraid she ate too much to be polite, but the Drakes didn't seem to mind. Tim ate like a bird, naturally. There was some more idle chit chat. Steph really liked Dana, but Tim's dad seemed pretty stern. He was all right, though, certainly a prize compared to her own father.

Soon, the food was finished and the Drakes were shaking her hand outside the place.

"It was wonderful to meet you, Stephanie," Dana said warmly. "You come over any time. I'd enjoy talking to you some more."

"Sure, Ms. Drake."

"I told you to call me Dana," she reminded her.

"Dana. Sorry."

"Yes, it was nice meeting you," Jack said to Stephanie. "Would you like to pop over to our house? "We're in the process of moving out, but..."

"Nah, Steph and I are going to take in the nightlife a little. She's got her car," Tim said.

"Okay. Call me every hour and get home by ten though. No bad neighborhoods," Jack warned.

"Sure thing, Dad. 'Bye."

"See? That wasn't so bad!" Tim said as they made their way to the car. "I think they really liked you."

"And I didn't call you Robin once," Steph teased him, taking off her heels and throwing them in the backseat as Tim waited by car door. She slipped into some comfy sneakers before sliding in the driver's seat.

"Did you like them?" Tim asked once they were on the road again.

"Yeah. I really liked Dana. Made me feel super guilty about that time I punched her out."

"Well, it had to be done to save Gotham," Tim said sagely.

"Thanks for the warning by the way."

"Sorry, I forgot! What did you think about Dad?"

"Well..."

"Yeah, I know he's kind of uptight," Tim said understandingly.

"I like him, though," Steph assured her boyfriend.

"He's been especially like that since Mom died. Dana lightened him up a bit, though."

"Can I ask what happened to your Mom?" Steph asked nervously.

"It's a long story. A voodoo guy called Obea man killed her a little while before I became Robin," Tim mournfully explained.

"Oh." _Of course._

"So, what are we doing for our date tonight, Boyfriend Wonder?" She asked smoothly as they drove into the mean streets of Gotham.

"Well, we could go see a movie..." Tim suggested.

"Yeah?"

"Or we could go bust some heads," he pointed to some police cars lined up outside a duplex up the street. "Looks like a hostage situation."

"Now, that's my idea of romance," Steph yanked her costume out from under her seat.

"I'd would've thought you had enough crime fighting action for the night," Tim said innocently.

"Never enough. Gonna put your costume on in front of me?" she teased, as Tim got his.

"Why Stephanie, that was quite an inappropriate comment. If my family heard it, you'd ruin all the good will you've built up," Tim teased right back.

"Very well, change in the alley, I would not want to tempt the wrath of the Drake clan," Steph said in a mock haughty voice.

Soon, they had both changed, and entered the place through the skylight. It was a hostage situation, all right. It appeared that the foursome of burglars (two guys, two girls) had attempted a robbery, but the cops had arrived midway through, and now they were holding the poor family at gunpoint to barter their escape.

"You take the left one with the machine gun, and I'll take the one with the handgun. We'll go free for all on the unarmed girl and guy," Steph whispered.

Tim nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'm impressed."

"Told you I could do it," Steph said, and she pounced from above on the one holding the handgun, throwing some flash and bang rounds that blinded him so he couldn't shoot at the family, and knocking the gun out of his hand with a quick twist of the arm, and knocked him to the floor with an elbow to the face. Meanwhile, Tim had to dodge a round of machine gun fire, but soon subdued the big woman holding it.

"You know, Spoiler, you're more comfortable than I've seen you all night," Robin called to her as he pinned the big woman to the wall, effortlessly backfisting the unarmed guy as he attempted to tackle him. "Could it be you're more comfortable dodging gunfire than meeting a guys parents?"

"Any day of the week, Boy wonder," Stephanie said as she rocked the former gunman she was straddling to sleep with a wicked roundhouse right to the jaw. "_Any _day of the week."


End file.
